From job interviews and networking to the first day of a new job, the spirit of welcoming can help you make connections, get hired and feel welcomed in return!
Pay attention to how you enter a new place and a new conversation.
How can you be welcoming in voice, posture and spirit?
You walk in the door. You’re meeting people for the first time. One of your goals it to make it easy for others to relate to you. Yes, easy… because if others have to work to get to know you they may lose interest or wonder what’s going on. Easy, in the sense that first impressions and early interactions, even in an interview, are a warm-up. With each question, we are building rapport and ideally, getting more interested in one another.
Your welcoming spirit involves all of you, body-voice-spirit-mind. When you begin relationships, you want to be OPEN, to have POSITIVE ENERGY, to convey CONFIDENCE. That’s about you inside and out; your emotions, energy, posture and facial expressions. In addition, you want to PAY ATTENTION to others such that you notice cues and respond to shifts in their energy and attention.
Here’s a mantra to strengthen your welcoming spirit:
Be Interested.
Know that you are interesting.
BE INTERESTED. Who am I talking to? What is energizing the other person? Why did they choose to come to the class, event, or work with this particular company?
Be interested in purpose and vision. What is this for? What will this lead to? What is the approach and theme? What will I have learned at the end of this class or event?
Be interested in how you’re welcomed. What is important and what is communicated to you? What do they ask first? What is their structure? Do they dance?!
KNOW THAT YOU ARE INTERESTING
Keep in mind that positive energy and confidence are the seeds of enjoyable, fruitful interactions. It’s key that you connect to something(s) you know about yourself that are your “solid”. That doesn’t mean you have to wear your resume or portfolio on your chest. Rather, reflect on what you find interesting about what you’ve done, where you’ve been, what you’ve learned. I’m more likely to pique the interest of a potential client’ by talking about studying somatic coaching or expressive movement than by saying I studied at a prestigious coaching institute. If I’m talking about my successes with a client, I can talk about what I’ve noticed leads to those successes. The deeper and more interested I go, the more likely I’ll have a good conversation.
All of us have interesting things to share. Inquire into what you have found interesting in your work and notice what gets your time and attention. If you’re dreaming about a job change or a boss change, try to articulate what you’re looking for. Answer the question: what makes this interesting to me? Think about how those interests can soften and warm you up when you’re meeting someone anew.